“Just like old times.”

  Chapter 13

  Over the next couple of days, Sheba went about the business of taking care of her grandmother’s affairs. She was determined that when Miss Pearl got out of the hospital, everything would be taken care of. That would allow her to rest easier and not have to worry about her house being foreclosed on. She had been to the bank and used one card to make another $2,394 payment on the mortgage, and then it was off to the DeKalb County courthouse to pay the back taxes on the house.

  She’d heard loud and clear what Jody had said about cash transactions over $10,000 attracting the attention of the IRS. Sheba took that advice to the next level and assumed they may flag any large transaction. She was committed to keeping dollar amounts under $2,500 but had to go back on that when she maxed out one card making a payment to Lakeside to cover half of the $25,000 cost of Demi’s rehabilitation.

  Demi had never worked a day in her life, so she had no insurance. Therefore, she was only admitted when Sheba used a card to pay $5,000. Floyd paid another $5,000 in cash, and Sheba promised to make another $2,500 payment that night. It had only been a couple of days, and she had spent more than half of that money.

  It was Lakeside’s policy that visitors were not allowed during the detox process, so nobody had seen Demi since she was admitted. When visitation was permitted, Sheba asked Chanel if she wanted to go with her to see her. But Chanel was still mad at Demi for running out on her and bringing on their grandmother’s flare-up, so she refused to go.

  “I get it,” Sheba said. “I’m mad at her too, but I had to let that go.”

  “Why, because she’s ‘sick’?” Chanel made air quotes.

  “Yes.” Sheba moved closer and put her arm around Chanel. “Demi is family. You know that rock and glass dick were calling her.”

  Chanel wiggled away. “No, Sheba, I don’t know, and I don’t wanna know about anything that would make me want to risk my grandmother’s life.” Sheba moved closer. “And stop doing that.”

  “Doing what?”

  “You know what you’re doing.” Chanel moved away. “You’re trying to make me all sympathetic so I’ll change my mind because she’s an addict and still family.”

  She moved closer to Chanel. “Is it working?”

  “Yes,” Chanel said and got up. “I’m mad at her selfish ass, but I’ll go with you next time.”

  Sheba got up and got ready to go to Lakeside. “Demi has always been selfish. That’s just Demi being Demi. You know that.”

  “I know.” Chanel folded her arms across her chest. “And this is me being the whiner Grandma said I am.”

  “Whatever, Chanel,” Sheba said, and they left their grandmother’s house. Chanel went home to her husband, who had done his share of whining while she had been away, and Sheba went to take care of some business for their grandmother before going to visit Demi.

  When she signed in to visit, Sheba was informed not only that Demi already had a visitor that day, but also that she needed to make another payment on the account.

  This money is going fast, Sheba thought on the way to the visitation area, much faster than she thought it would. $20,000 may have sounded like a lot of money, but it went fast in the real world. When she was told that Demi had a visitor, Sheba had assumed that Chanel had a change of mind and came to see her. She was wrong but was surprised to see that Floyd was there. Sheba approached them, thinking that Chanel needed to see this. Last week, Floyd wanted nothing to do with Demi, and now, even though she’d set him up to get robbed, he was doing all he could to be supportive of her.

  “Hey, Sheba,” Demi said.

  “What’s up, Sheba?”

  The three visited for a while before Floyd got up and said that he had to leave. “Give you two some alone time.”

  Demi got up and hugged him. “Thank you for coming to see me.”

  “I’ll see you next time. I’ll get with you later, Sheba,” he said and left the visitation area.

  “So how’s it going, Demi?”

  “I gotta tell you, detox was hard. As much as I wanna say I got the shit outta my system, I really don’t know if I did.”

  “That’s all right. You’re being honest with yourself.”

  “I’ll be okay,” Demi said, and she rested her head on Sheba’s shoulder. “I’m a strong African queen. At least, I wanna be.”

  “You’ll get there. And I promise I’ll be right here for you. I meant it when I said I won’t let anything or anybody hurt you ever again.”

  Demi enjoyed Sheba’s visit until it was time for her to leave. Once a tearful goodbye was shared between Demi and Sheba, she left the building only to find Floyd waiting for her in the parking lot.

  “Thought you were gone.”

  “I wanted to talk to you,” Floyd said.

  “So you waited?”

  “I didn’t know how long you’d be, and I didn’t have shit else to do, so yeah, I hung out, made a couple of calls.” He laughed. “Chatted up a couple cuties who came to visit. Productive time, so it was time well spent.”

  Sheba leaned against the car next to him. “What you wanna talk to me about?”

  He leaned shoulder to shoulder. “Them other keys,” he said softly.

  “What about them?”

  “You need to let me and Jody work them.”

  Sheba started to object.

  “Before you say anything, just hear me out.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “How much money you got left from that twenty?”

  “Not much.”

  “That always was my point. That money was only gonna go but so far. You don’t have much money left, and Grandma still got bills to pay. And if you think Demi is gonna be ready to leave here and stay clean after only thirty days, you’re kidding yourself.”

  “I know. She’s struggling in there.”

  “You don’t know how bad she was. I wouldn’t be surprised if she relapses and escapes from here more than once before she gets clean.”

  “Don’t say that,” Sheba said, but she knew Floyd was right.

  “This ain’t about the money. It’s about family. It’s about us, all of us, doing what we need to do to take care of our family. And right now, this is what this family needs.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Sheba said and got off his car. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Grandma’s coming home, so come by,” she said, walking to her car.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, but you know I’m right.”

  On her way home from Lakeside, Sheba got a call from Dante. They had been playing phone tag and texting since the night Demi left her grandmother’s house.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  “Finally. I was starting to think that we’d never actually speak again and that we were doomed to having our entire relationship via text and messages.”

  “They tell me that’s how relationships go these days.”

  “I heard that too, but I don’t want to be a part of one. I like physical contact too much,” Dante flirted, but Sheba didn’t bite on the line. He laughed it off. “So how are you doing?”

  “Tired. Been ripping and running since the last time I saw you.”

  “How’s Mrs. Harrison?”

  “She’s doing a lot better. Thank you for asking. She’ll be coming home tomorrow.”

  “That’s good to hear. Please give her my best.”

  “I will.”

  “How’s Demi?”

  “I just left her, and she’s doing fine.” Sheba didn’t go into detail about what was going on with Demi. She hadn’t told Dante anything about rehab. Unless he absolutely needed to know, she had no plans to tell him.

  “That’s good.” Dante paused. “Listen, the reason I called was to see if you were busy tonight.”

  “I didn’t have any plans. What’s up?”

  “I got two orchestra seats for Pretty Woman: The Musical tonight at the Fox Theatre, and I wanted to know if you wanted to have dinner with me and see the show.”

  “I loved the movie,” Sheba said excitedly. “That sounds like it might be fun. It’s a date.”

  “Great,” Dante said, and arrangements were made for him to pick Sheba up at her grandmother’s house at five.

  They had a four-course dinner for two at The Melting Pot, which included shrimp, teriyaki-marinated steak, chicken potstickers, sesame-crusted ahi tuna, and duck breast as well as cheese fondue, salad, and chocolate fondue.

  Since it weighed heavily on her mind, and Dante, being a physician’s assistant, was knowledgeable, a good bit of dinner conversation revolved around him answering Sheba’s questions about her grandmother’s health, and then it was time to leave for the theatre.

  * * *

  “So what did you think?” Sheba asked on the way back to her grandmother’s house.

  “It was pretty good. They stuck pretty close to the movie. What about you? What did you think?”

  “I agree that they stuck pretty close to the original,” Sheba said. “But I don’t know, it just felt wrong to me. But some of the songs were good, and I had a nice time with you. Thank you for inviting me, Dante. This was a much-needed distraction from everything that I’ve been dealing with”—she laughed—“and will be dealing with again in the morning.”

  “Glad to be there for you. I’d like to see more of you,” he said as they got close to the house.

  “I can tell that you do. But I hope that you understand and can appreciate that my world is crazy right now and what I can really use is a friend. I know it was a long time ago and you say nothing happened, but it hurt. It hurt for a long time. So let’s start here and see where it goes.”

  “I still love you, Sheba. I never stopped loving you.”

  “And I loved you once. We’ll see if we can make it back there from where we are now,” Sheba said as Dante parked in front of the house.

  “I waited this long for a second chance, so I guess we’ll see if we can make it back.”

  Dante turned off the car and got out. He came around and opened Sheba’s door, extending his hand for her to get out. He walked her to the door, and after a hug and a kiss on the cheek, Sheba said, “Good night, Dante. Thank you again for tonight.”

  “Good night, Sheba,” Dante said, and she went inside.

  Once she had showered and was about to get in bed, her phone rang. Sheba looked at the display and saw that it was Jordan calling.

  “Hello.”

  “What you doing?” he asked.

  “About to get in bed.”

  “Let me come get in bed with you.”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you can’t come here anymore. That’s why.”

  “Why not?”

  “My grandma doesn’t allow drug dealers in her house.”

  “Okay, okay, fair enough. Gotta respect the lady of the house. So let me come get you.”

  “No.” Sheba got out of bed. “Text me your address.”

  Dante wants a relationship. Jordan just wants some pussy. Some good dick is about all I can stand in my world right now, Sheba thought and went to his house.

  Chapter 14

  Sheba had just stepped into the hallway at the hospital when she saw Chanel coming. If all went well, Miss Pearl was scheduled to be released that morning, but that all depended on Dr. Kulkarni and the medical staff.

  “Morning, Chanel.”

  “Morning, Sheba. Is the doctor in the room with Grandma?” Chanel asked, and Sheba nodded. “Are they going to release her today?”

  “I hope so, but we’ll see what the doctor says.”

  “She was doing fine last night when I left here.”

  “What time did you leave here?”

  “Eight o’clock. Why?”

  “You look tired, that’s all.”

  Chanel hissed. “I’m tired of a lot of shit, but I was up late last night, that’s all.”

  “Nope, not buying that.” Sheba shook her head. “Give it up. What’s really going on?”

  “Me and James got into it on the way home last night.” Chanel let out a little laugh. “Got into it in the parking lot, really.”

  “What’d y’all get into it about?”

  “He’s been drinking a lot lately. You saw how drunk he was at your welcome home party.”

  “So was just about everybody else. That’s what you do at parties.”

  “Anyway, James was drunk again last night.”

  “Drunk at the hospital with Grandma?”

  “He’s got a little flask that he carries with him. So he’ll go in the hall, take a swallow, and come back, or he’ll take a sip when he thinks nobody’s looking.”

  “I’m sorry, Chanel. I knew James could drink, but damn, it’s like that?”

  “Yes, it’s like that, and he was too drunk to drive. That’s what started the argument. He didn’t want to let me drive home. Some guy walked up while we were arguing. It was getting pretty ugly by then. I don’t know who he was, but he finally convinced James to let me drive. He passed out in the car on the way home. But when we got home, we got right back into it. Sheba, now you know I don’t like to argue.”

  “I know. You keep it all to yourself.”

  “Not last night. Sheba, I said everything I’ve always wanted to say because I’ve had it. I am so tired of his shit.”

  “You, Chanel, tired of his shit? Say it ain’t so.”

  “I told him I was tired of him drinking so much, and him embarrassing me in public was getting real old. I told him I was tired of carrying all the weight financially. That he needs to get off his ass and start making some money.”

  “I thought he got a new job and a big raise.”

  “Big raise, my big ass. Even with the raise, I still make twice what he’s making. He makes enough to pay for that Acura he didn’t need and his high-ass insurance. He can handle a bill every now and then. But he’s always crying broke. But he always got money to buy a bottle or hang out with his drunk-ass friends. But when I bring up his drinking or that car, he gets annoyed.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He tried to make it about me and what I’m not doing.”

  “Of course he did.”

  “After a while, I stopped fussing and went to bed. He gets in bed and starts rubbing on me. I say stop because I really don’t feel like being bothered with his drunk ass. But he keeps on, trying to force himself on me. So I got out of bed and went to sleep in the other room, and that futon is not comfortable.”

  “And that’s why you look tired.”

  “I’m losing respect for him, Sheba. And that’s not good.”

  “I’m sorry, Chanel. I didn’t know it had gotten that bad.”

  “I keep stuff to myself, remember?” Chanel took a sip of her coffee and dropped her head.

  “Why do you stay with him?”

  “I still kind of love him. And when he’s not drunk, he’s nice and he promises to do better. He’ll stop drinking for a day or two. Maybe even a week. Most of the time I think it’s because he’s broke. One time, last year, he stopped drinking for a month. I was shocked,” Chanel said as the door opened and Dr. Kulkarni came out.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Morgan,” Dr. Kulkarni said.

  “It will be a great morning if my grandmother can come home today,” Chanel said.

  “As I was telling Miss Styles, her vitals look good. I just wanted to look in on her and do one last breathing test, but I don’t see any reason to keep her another day.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Kulkarni,” Sheba said and shook her hand.

  “You’re welcome. Hopefully, we can get her out before noon,” the doctor said as Sheba and Chanel went into the room.

  It was more like one in the afternoon when Miss Pearl was finally released from the hospital. But that gave Sheba time to think about her grandmother’s future health as well as Demi’s. This was her grandmother’s second hospital stay in as many weeks. She hadn’t even gotten the bill for the first stay yet, and she was sure, with all the tests they ran, that this bill would be higher than the last. Fortunately, Miss Pearl’s new insurance coverage would go into effect on the first of next month, but in the meantime, it was Sheba who signed as the party responsible for the bill.

  And then there was Demi. Whether she wanted to hear it or not, Floyd was right about her. Even if she made it through these thirty days, it was Demi herself who said that she was fucked up, and she had been fucked up for a long time. It was more than likely that Demi was going to go through the rehabilitation process more than once before she could make a permanent lifestyle change. It was something that would take time.

  And now there was Chanel and the kids to worry about. She had always been slow to anger, and she may always have kept things to herself, but she was fed up now. Sheba knew that things could, and most likely would, escalate quickly between Chanel and James. She would need the support of her family if changes needed to be made. There was also the fact that she had put everything on her credit card that first day, so Sheba was in debt, too. She could hear Jody’s words: “We do this right, Sheba, and the whole family comes up.”

  Sheba knew that she was going to sell the remaining kilos eventually. What she had to consider was if letting Jody and Floyd handle it was best for their family.

  Once Miss Pearl was discharged from the hospital, Sheba took her home with Chanel following close behind them. When they got to the house and went inside, Sheba told Miss Pearl that she should go upstairs and get in bed. Miss Pearl was about to tell her that she was tired of bed and was going to cook something when Chanel came into the house. She was on the phone with James, and the argument over money was getting heated.

  “I don’t know what gave you that idea, but you are out of your freakin’ mind if you think that I’m gonna pay for that nonsense,” Chanel shouted as she passed through the living room and out onto the back porch. “You sound like a fuckin’ fool!” she shouted and slammed the door.